NVCC To Host NASA Moon Rocks

WATERBURY — The Naugatuck Valley Community College Math/Science Division and the Mattatuck Astronomical Society will hold a special public meeting on Thursday, December 7, at 7 pm in Room 440, Ekstrom Hall at NVCC, 750 Chase Parkway, Waterbury. Jon Wallace, an area teacher and astronomer, will host an exhibition of NASA lunar meteorites as well as some of his own extensive collection of meteorites.

During the talk, Mr Wallace will discuss the origins and types of meteorites and show examples of these types. He will also share some of the newest ideas about the Moon derived from the Apollo lunar samples. There are about 840 lbs of material originally from the Moon in the world today. Almost all of this material (about 835 lbs) was collected during the Apollo program (1969-1972). The rest is from the Soviet Union’s Luna robotic landers (1970-1976) and a small number of meteorites that were ejected from the Moon during impact events. Seeing these samples, despite the fact that they are small, is a rare treat!

Lunar samples are very special because they are the only samples literally handpicked from an extraterrestrial body and then returned to Earth. The sources of most meteorites are still the subject of scientific investigation and debate. The lunar samples can be divided into two types, rocks and soil. The rocks are usually either basalts or anorthosites. Basalts are the dark volcanic rocks seen in driveways and are common on the Earth. Anorthosites are igneous rocks, and are composed almost entirely of large grains of the mineral feldspar (variety anorthite). This rock type is extremely rare on Earth.

The Moon’s surface can be further divided into two basic regional types visible from the Earth’s surface. The lunar highlands are the bright areas on the surface and are mostly composed of anorthosite. The dark lunar mare or “seas” are composed of basalt. Both areas are covered by a soil called regolith that is created by the impact of meteoroids, ranging in size from large meteorites to tiny micrometeorites, on the local rocks.

Research on lunar materials has concentrated on the geologic history of the Moon. It is now generally accepted that the Moon is about as old as the Earth, about 4.5 billion years old. It is also thought that the Moon was originally part of the early Earth that was thrown off as a result of a very large impact event with a Mars-sized object. The anorthosite rocks formed first, creating a solid crust of anorthosite. From about 3.9 to 3 billion years ago, large impacts caused some of the molten material in the core (basalt) to fill some of the largest of the craters, forming the dark mares or “seas.” Since then, the Moon has been a relatively quiet place with only a few moderate impact events that produced new craters, and the continuous bombardment of the Moon by smaller meteorites that produced the modern lunar regolith.

Most of the world collection of lunar material is stored and curated at Johnson Space Center, although major museums often have small amounts for public display. About half of this collection is in storage and has not been touched. It is being saved for the future as new technology becomes available to study these rare rocks. With the exception of a few lunar meteorites that are in private hands, lunar samples are considered national (or international) treasures and are not available for sale or trade. Samples are released for study and educational purposes only to qualified researchers and teachers who have gone through a NASA certification process.